Okinawa Wants Our Base Out

Approximately 25,000 American troops are based in the most populous part of Okinawa.  The US has offered to move them to a quieter area, but the Okinawans want them gone, and they have elected a Governor who has promised to get rid of them.  The usefulness of this base and its many troops, dependents, and civilian hangers-on is questionable even as North Korea flexes its muscles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/asia/29okinawa.html?_r=1&ref=world

How Do You Hide 1,000 Bases?

As the article says, the Press and most Americans know nothing and care less about the American Empire – 1000 overseas bases that make us no friends and cost us a fortune.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175321

Do We Need A Base In Aviano?

We have more than 700 overseas bases, possibly as many as a thousand, and their enormous cost is a target for budget-cutters.

http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/washington/archives/overseas-bases-in-budget-crosshairs.html

Frank/Paul “Dear Collegue Letter” Arrives

Fifty-five members of Congress signed the letter written by Barney Frank and Ron Paul calling on the Catfood Commission to recommend drastic reductions in military spending.  If you recall, when President Obama set up this Alan Simpson-led deficit commission, he said cuts in military spending were off the table.  Frank and Paul say that if there aren’t such cuts, we’ll never pull out of our domestic nosedive.

http://warisacrime.org/content/55-congress-members-urge-military-budget-cuts

Pentagon: “Be Afraid Of China!”

Thom Shanker’s article in today’s Times tells us that mysteriously anonymous figures “throughout Washington” are worried about Chinese military growth.  The lesson of course:  don’t cut military spending.  But the article is woefully short on facts.  It estimates that China will spend $150 billion on defense this year, a volcanic increase of 7.9%!  Meanwhile US military spending approaches $1 trillion.  The fact that China has between three and four times as many citizens as the US is not mentioned.  Nor is there a word about the huge numbers of US troops and weapons in Japan and Korea.  We’ll see a lot more of this scare-mongering as 25% grows in popularity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17military.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Shanker&st=cse

Closing Overseas Bases

This is the letter sent by four congressmen to the Catfood Commission asking them to recommend closing overseas military bases.  How many of those there are is in debate because of the confusing ways they are delineated.  Many in the UK, for instance, are called RAF bases, but they are really USAF bases.  Most people put the number at near 1,000. The picture is of a stream in Vincenza, Italy, home of a giant US base and of Palladio’s famous Villa Rotonda.

http://www.house.gov/frank/letters/official/2010/05-27-10-joint-letter-military-spending.pdf

Close Those Overseas Bases

http://www.fpif.org/articles/too_many_overseas_bases